As a teenager in Iran, while my friends were fixated by their favorite music or movies, I was busy at work in my own “lab”, performing chemical experiments, and creating my own lab reports. My parents encouraged my creative, analytical pursuits, and presented me with bits of equipment and assorted apparatus to fuel my inquisitive nature.

Upon entering university, I immersed myself in the pursuit of a degree in Psychology. My long-standing fascination with science, the human body and how it operates welcomed each new concept as my studies introduced me to steadily advancing challenges. During my time in Iran, I volunteered for eighteen months as a psychologist in a mental hospital. My heart went out to these poor souls, and I came to realize how passionate I was about helping the sick. I found myself increasingly concerned with what I was seeing in terms of the pharmaceuticals administered to patients and the negative side-effects - to their minds, and emotions – they were experiencing. I felt that these side-effects were only adding to the lists of behavioral problems facing our patients, and unnecessarily so. It was my belief that there was a better way, and that it was up to me to find it, to aid in the cessation of negative stimuli caused by drug therapies while retaining effective performance of the therapy. I decided that the best possible path was to become a Doctor of Pharmacology, specifically through research in Neuromedicine.

Emigrating to America in pursuit of a quality education in Pharmacology was truly an exciting experience. America has long had a reputation for being a world leader in pharmaceutical research, and I was going to be a part of it. Coming here was fraught with new obstacles, not the least of which was learning English whilst working to help support my family, and working on completing my pharmacy prerequisites. I wrestled with this Herculean task, and yet by managing my time well, I succeeded in every course I took; my passion for success and drive simply took over.

I practiced my English at work, both in my paid work as well as my volunteer work, increasing my confidence and interpersonal skills. Whilst volunteering with a dentist’s office, I have met and worked with a very diverse clientele, though I will begin volunteering for a pharmacy this fall, where I hope to gain the valuable experience of seeing how an efficient and successful pharmacy operates, while working in a team of professionals. I anticipate that my education in chemistry, particularly practical lab work, where I learned a great deal about chemical compounds, reactions and expressing these reactions as formulae will be valuable in my volunteer work in a pharmacy situation. My school impressed upon us the need to be able to organize data with the aid of computer software as well as by hand, skills that will prove invaluable in my future as a pharmacist.

The best way to achieve my goals is by educating myself in a manner that is thorough and of the highest quality I can attain, and I have a proven track record of this. Overall, my assorted experiences coupled with my travels in Iran, Turkey and the United States, and aptitude in two languages only increases my cultural competency. I love to meet new people, enjoy the interaction and, particularly enjoy helping relieve patients of their discomfort. It is my primary aim to provide the best and most accurate services to my patients. I thank you for your time, consideration and I look forward to a personal interview.